Population Genetic Structure of Wild Boars in Poland

Abstract

The analysis involved wild boars from the Lublin region, Warmia and Mazury, and Wielkopolska. The study material comprised muscle tissue samples collected from 100 wild boars. We analysed loci S0008, SW1129, SW986, SW1465, SW1492, SW1514, SW2532, SW461, SW841, SW2021, and SW2496 [1, 2]. The largest number of specific alleles, i.e. in six loci, was observed in wild boars from Warmia and Mazury; in turn, there were only two alleles in the group of wild boars from Lublin, and no alleles in individuals from Wielkopolska. The average value of the observed heterozygosity was H_o = 0.51, and the average value of expected heterozygosity was H_e = 0.63. PIC was another analysed indicator, with its lowest value determined for wild boars from the Wielkopolska region (0.53), and the highest value (0.62) was found for the animals from Warmia and Mazury. In the study population of wild boars, we also determined the F_ST index, which was 0.073, and N_m had a value greater than 3 (3.15); therefore, it can be concluded that the number of migrants per generation was 3. Both coefficients confirm the possibility of gene transfer and reproduction within and between the analysed populations of the wild boars. In our study, we observed a greater genetic distance between the wild boar populations from Wielkopolska and the Lublin and Warmia and Mazury regions in spite of the smaller geographical distance of these lands. This may be caused the less extensive network of ecological corridors as well as the occurrence of anthropogenic barriers e.g. large urban centres, an extensive network of roads, and the high volume of traffic in the direction of the capital.